﻿Grattoni, left, talks with researcher Marco Farina in the lab where they are developing a nano channel implant to deliver medications ﻿in low-dose, sustained and long-term fashion. ﻿

﻿Grattoni, left, talks with researcher Marco Farina in the lab where they are developing a nano channel implant to deliver medications ﻿in low-dose, sustained and long-term fashion. ﻿

Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Houston Chronicle

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Nanomedicine department chair Alessandro Grattoni, left, talks with postdoctoral fellow Corrine Ying Xuan Chua. ﻿In November Grattoni will be sending 40 rats with implants to the International Space Station in an experiment on treating muscle atrophy. ﻿ less

Nanomedicine department chair Alessandro Grattoni, left, talks with postdoctoral fellow Corrine Ying Xuan Chua. ﻿In November Grattoni will be sending 40 rats with implants to the International Space Station ... more

Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Houston Chronicle

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Grattoni holds a handful of the nanochannel delivery implants he is developing to treat muscle atrophy.﻿

Grattoni holds a handful of the nanochannel delivery implants he is developing to treat muscle atrophy.﻿

Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Houston Chronicle

Houston researchers to study muscle atrophy drug in space

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Instead of eating turkey, watching football and lounging with loved ones, Alessandro Grattoni and his team at Houston Methodist Research Institute will spend Thanksgiving preparing 40 mice for a trip to the International Space Station.

The timing, Grattoni acknowledges, is not ideal. But each mouse needs a tiny drug-delivery device implanted under its skin before the experiment launches into orbit Nov. 28.

This experiment - the third of eight Grattoni has received approval to conduct aboard the space station - will focus specifically on the dispersal of Formoterol, a drug that has shown promise in preventing muscle atrophy.

"There's actually a great need for this," said Grattoni, director of the institute's Center of Space Nanomedicine.

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Muscle atrophy, or the decrease of muscle mass from lack of activity, often occurs in people who are on bed rest after a severe trauma, are undergoing chemotherapy or have ALS, a degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

But it also occurs in astronauts because they are not using their muscles for normal activities, such as walking under gravitational force, Grattoni said. Research shows that this is true: even when space station crew members did resistance exercise three to six days each week and aerobic exercise five hours each week, muscle mass and power decreased significantly, according to a 2016 post on NASA's website.

That's why it makes sense to conduct this experiment in space, Grattoni said, where muscle atrophy does not have to be simulated and occurs at a rapid pace.

The experiment "increases our understanding of ground-based muscle-related diseases, disorders and injuries affecting millions of people globally and aids in the development of new strategies for treating these conditions," according to NASA's website. It also "advances understanding of both drugs and drug delivery systems that can address muscle loss during long space journeys."

Once researchers implant the drug-delivery device into the backs of each mouse next month, the drug will begin dispensing through tiny channels that are each about 50,000 times smaller than a human hair. This mode of delivery allows for a steady dispersal rate over an extended period of time, which researchers hope will make it easier for patients who need numerous doses of medication, oftentimes in the middle of the night, and those who live far from doctors.

Grattoni's device has been used for drug delivery for other diseases, including HIV prevention, cancer and diabetes, but has not yet been tested in humans.

It could be years before the use of this device for Formoterol delivery is tested on people. If the mouse experiment proves successful, Grattoni said they will move on to primate studies.

The mice - half of which will receive a placebo - spend about 45 days in space, Grattoni said, where astronauts will monitor their movements. After that time period, he said, half the mice will be euthanized so astronauts can study their muscles, bones and blood. The other 20 will be sent back to earth so researchers can conduct more complicated experiments not possible on the space station, he added.

Novartis, a Switzerland-based drug company, is helping fund the experiment along with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which helps NASA manage the scientific work aboard the space station. The institute received about $2.7 million from the center for four experiments.

Grattoni, meanwhile, will make sure his researchers don't miss out on Thanksgiving festivities.